Ethereum Developers Propose 2 Ways to Protect Smart Contracts Ahead of Glamsterdam

On November 8, 2026, Ethereum developers presented two alternative proposals to prevent potential smart contract failures following the Glamsterdam update. Initiatives by Leo Glisic and Giulio Rebuffo propose different ways to maintain compatibility of existing applications with new gas calculation rules. Both projects have not yet been approved.

The issue is related to proposals EIP-8037 and EIP-8038, which change the cost of creating and using network state data in Ethereum. Gas is a unit of measurement for the computational resources required to perform operations on the blockchain. The new rules are intended to more accurately account for infrastructure load but may disrupt the operation of some existing smart contracts.

Why Glamsterdam might disrupt applications

Some Ethereum smart contracts are designed with a fixed amount of gas for certain operations. If their execution requires more resources after the update, individual calls to other contracts may result in errors.

Applications with immutable code, which cannot be fixed after being deployed on the blockchain, are particularly vulnerable. Potential consequences include operation failures and restricted access to funds managed by such contracts.

For example, EIP-8037 proposes increasing the cost of creating a new account from 25,000 to 183,600 gas units as part of the revised network state resource accounting.

A developer under the pseudonym banteg reported a list of approximately 200,000 potentially affected contracts. According to his assessment, the methodology used may not account for some other applications. These are preliminary analysis results, not a confirmed number of contracts that will cease to function.

How the developers' proposals differ

Leo Glisic presented project EIP-8488, which proposes separating gas accounting rules for existing and new smart contracts.

According to the proposal, already deployed applications will continue to operate under the old rules. A separate set of V2 instructions, using the updated gas calculation system EIP-8037 and EIP-8038, will be introduced for new contracts.

Giulio Rebuffo proposed a different mechanism. It involves using two gas counters in each transaction. The first will determine the execution of the smart contract under the old rules, and the second will calculate the actual fee according to the new rates.

Thus, Glisic's approach separates old and new applications, while Rebuffo's solution proposes separating the technical accounting of operations execution and fee calculation.

However, Rebuffo's project has not yet been implemented in Ethereum client software and has not been tested for network rule compliance.

When Glamsterdam testing will continue

Compatibility issues have already affected the Ethereum update schedule. After activating Glamsterdam on the Sepolia testnet on October 6, developers planned to conduct the next testing phase on Hoodi on October 26, but postponed it due to identified risks.

On November 6, the Ethereum Foundation confirmed that the update activation on Hoodi will not occur until potential issues with existing contracts are resolved.

At a developer meeting on October 29, the next phase of closed testing was tentatively considered for no earlier than November 16–20. However, this target was set before the emergence of the two new proposals.

Both projects remain under discussion and have no approved implementation timelines. Developers need to choose an approach to maintain compatibility and verify its effectiveness before continuing with the Glamsterdam update.